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For one weekend in September every year the skies over a tiny mountain village in south-eastern France are filled with an array of fantastic fliers and their flying machines.

The Coupe Icare (Icarus Cup) is a free flying festival. Fliers from all over France and across the world gather in St Hilaire du Touvet to fly the kinds of aircraft that don’t need the permission of air traffic control to climb free of terra firma.

Coupe Icare 2011 – Video officiel www.coupe-icare.org from coupeicare on Vimeo.

That’s the free part of free flying. We’re mostly taking paragliders, hang gliders and hot air balloons. There are some aeroplane and helicopter displays – notably the French Air Force acrobatic team – but most contraptions at the festival fly without the power of an engine. In fact, most leave their pilots exposed to the elements, which has got to be one of the most exhilarating things about them.

The festival’s part carnival and part serious flight industry event. Over 200 manufacturers of free flight equipment will be showcasing their wares in a trade fair; the International Free Flight Film Festival (the 30th edition no less!) will be hosted by the festival; and there are acrobatic demos across the weekend from every free flying device under the sun (including paramotors, sail planes, gyros and kites). There are tons of activities to keep kids happy too, like a paper plane contest, falconry displays and balloon making workshops.

The Coupe Icare’s big draw though has to be its famous Masquerade contest, which is essentially an extreme fancy dress competition for hang glider and paraglider pilots. Entrants typically take off wearing incredibly intricate and often huge costumes that are designed to look at their best in flight. Of all the spectacles at the festival, it’s undoubtedly the most remarkable.

The 39th Coupe Icare takes place this weekend – Sept. 20-23, 2012. The Masquerade is scheduled to take place on Saturday at 11am.

Written by insider city guide series Hg2 | A Hedonist’s guide to…

(Image: Nicolas Assael, Ilan Ginzburg, Alain Douce)

About the author

Brett AckroydBrett hopes to one day reach the shores of far-flung Tristan da Cunha, the most remote of all the inhabited archipelagos on Earth…as to what he’ll do when he gets there, he hasn’t a clue. Over the last 10 years, London, New York, Cape Town and Pondicherry have all proudly been referred to as home. Now it’s Copenhagen’s turn, where he lends his travel expertise to momondo.com.

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